We connect people, businesses and communities through local groundwater
education and action, making us all part of the solution for clean, sustainable
groundwater.

Over our 30+ years we have witnessed the strength, success
and overall great satisfaction that is achieved through our community-based
groundwater protection and education. In
fact, our Groundwater Guardian teams connect different sectors of their local
community to get the important work done. Communities across the nation are connected in order to share, learn and
celebrate their successes. We are
committed to growing and strengthening our Groundwater Guardian program so that
we can move closer to our vision:

A network of people, businesses and communities proactively protecting
groundwater for sustainable use today and tomorrow.

So, let’s keep in mind how important it is to connect within our communities to the people and businesses that can help us as we work
to protect our life-sustaining water.
And let’s remember that what we do matters:

It’s the water we drink. It’s the
water that grows our food. It’s the
water that sustains our lives and livelihoods.

Sara Brock

In order to do this the best way possible – to focus our
attention on furthering the work of connecting – we have also made
some changes internally.

I would like to introduce you to our new team member:
Sara Brock. Sara joined our team as an
intern this summer. One of the projects
Sara has been working on is creating a story bank, so she has already connected
with many Groundwater Guardians. This
will continue as she will be doing a lot more with our Groundwater Guardians.

I would also like to salute some of The
Groundwater Foundation’s longtime champions: Cindy Kreifels, Lori Davison and
Doug Sams. Each of them dedicated so
much to our organization. They connected
with our Groundwater Guardians, our program partners, our members. Those connections are deep and meaningful, and we
thank them for their excellent service and count on the connection
continuing as they take on their new paths.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

It is 6:30 a.m. and today I’m
off to Riverton, Wyoming, to attend the annual conference for Conservation
Districts. This is the first time I’ve been to this conference, and I’m excited
to see some of the clients we’ve been working with and return to the only state
in the country with a cowboy on its license plate. My mention of the cowboy will
become abundantly clear as I describe one day on a recent trip to Wyoming. It
was one of the most memorable days I’ve ever had as a consulting geologist.

For the past year and a half,
we have been working on a watershed study for the Wyoming Water Development
Commission (WWDC) and the Teton Conservation District (TCD) in Jackson,
Wyoming. Yes, the study area includes the Grand Tetons, Bridger-Teton National
Forest, portions of Yellowstone National Park and the entire National Elk
Refuge. The watershed is 1.7 million acres of land in the center of the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest intact ecosystem in the lower 48 – not to
mention it includes one of the country’s most iconic mountain ranges. One that
takes your breath away each and every time you see it.

The Grand Tetons at Grand Teton National Park

As I’ve headed out west to
complete the project, I’ve had a lot of volunteers who wanted to join the
project team. Who wouldn’t want to go to Jackson Hole every two months to see
the seasons change across the amazing landscape?! And, luckily for us all, the
scope of the project is almost as vast as the landscape and so I have been able
to bring out several of our best scientists and engineers to help complete the
project.

The team
visiting Jenny Lake after meeting with the National Park Service at Grand Teton
National Park. From left to right, Joan Darling, PhD (our wetlands and
permitting expert), me, Jodee Pring (River Basin Planning Supervisor for the
WWDC), and Brian Degen, PE (our irrigation engineer).

We were hired by the WWDC and
the TCD to complete a Level I watershed study. A Level I watershed study
is holistic evaluation of an area that is interconnected by water. The study
evaluates the current condition of an area and looks at opportunities for water
improvement projects that will restore, maintain, and enhance healthy watershed
function. Specifically, a Level I watershed study looks for projects, programs,
or activities that support sustainable, beneficial water use for current and
future watershed residents – be they human, animal, or plant.

To learn the issues facing the
water users in the district, we held public meetings in the town of Jackson and
in the small community of Moran near the south entrance to Yellowstone. At the
meetings, we heard from ranchers, land managers, wildlife conservationists, and
the urban and rural residents about their issues with both drought and
flooding. The summer of 2016 was no exception with dry conditions causing three
major fires in the watershed. You may have heard about the Berry Fire that was
reported on the national news because it closed the southern entrance to
Yellowstone for several weeks. Conversely, in the winter, ice jams form in Flat
Creek and they block the water flow through Jackson causing winter flooding in
the residential and commercial parts of town. Water issues not only affect
tourism and the urban residents; we heard from many of the local ranchers about
the need to upgrade the irrigation systems that supply water to the green
pastures that feed both livestock and wildlife across the watershed.

The greatest thing about these
Level I watershed studies is that we start the project by completing a
description and inventory of the watershed.
At the same time, we hold public meetings and go out to see the issues
first hand. So the project team gets to see the big picture of the watershed as
a whole by developing a series of GIS maps that document, for example, the
geology, soils, land use, wetlands and sensitive habitats. And we also get to
go see “the boulder that destroyed the headgate on our irrigation canal.” We
then put together conceptual plans and cost estimates for the water improvements
identified by the residents and stewards of the land.

Here is a prime
example of the irrigation system improvement needs in the Upper Snake River
Watershed. The Jensen Creek diversion used to provide water to several ranches
just south of the Teton Village ski resort. The irrigation structure was crushed by a gigantic boulder during a
debris flow. We prepared a conceptual plan and cost estimate for a replacement
structure downstream this site.

That gigantic boulder was a
pretty amazing thing to see, but the day I wanted to tell you about started at
a public meeting at Fire Station #4 in Moran. We held a public meeting to find
out what types of water improvement projects were needed in the northern part
of the watershed. Several local ranchers came to hear what the study was about
and realized that the issues they had with deteriorating and inefficient
irrigation systems may be eligible for funding through the WWDC Small Water
Project Program. Mort Yoakum, manager of the historic Pinto Ranch, invited me
to come visit the ranch the next day. Before he left he asked me one question:
“Do you know how to ride a horse?”

I met him at the ranch
headquarters the next morning where we loaded up two horses to ride across the
pastures that needed irrigation system improvements. As we rode across the
ranch, Mort told me the story of how the ranch was homesteaded and how at one
time ran 2,000 head of cattle across this area. He showed me the flood
irrigation ditches that crisscross the landscape. Some ditches were dug over
100 years ago, and we talked about some options that could be proposed to help
improve water delivery, while improving water conservation. I asked him why he
didn’t use ATVs to get around the ranch like so many ranchers do these days. He
explained the ditches were too wide and deep in places for the ATVs to cross
but the horses can jump across them easily. Next thing you know, he led us
across a ditch and, yes, my horse easily leapt across without hesitating!

Mort Yoakum,
manager of the Pinto Ranch takes me across their allotment on the Elk Ranch
located in the northeast corner of Grand Teton National Park. The Tetons were
covered in a haze that day because the Berry Fire was burning at the entrance
to Yellowstone.

With that, I’ll leave you with
my favorite picture of Mort, pointing to the main irrigation ditch as he
described where he needed the water to feed his cattle, the antelope, and the
heard of over 800 wild buffalo that share the natural resources of this area.

Sunrise on the
Elk Ranch at Grand Teton National Park discussing more efficient ways to
deliver water to the cattle and wildlife that depend on this most precious
resource. Yep, those are my horse’s ears in the foreground; we had a fantastic
ride that morning.

Some days I wonder how I could be so lucky to have a job where I get to try to help folks find ways to conserve and protect this most precise resource – the interconnected groundwater and surface water that define this watershed. Especially when it means taking a ride across this iconic landscape with a rancher who is trying to maintain the legacy of a historic ranch while at the same time, preserving the natural resources that nourish a part of the greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

____________________

About the Author

Karen Griffin is a professional geologist managing multidisciplinary projects focused in the fields of geology and hydrogeology. She began her career in environmental geology in Santa Barbara, CA and moved to Boulder, CO to take a position as project manager for the restoration and cleanup of a 27 square mile superfund site called the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. She moved back to her home town in 2004 and is currently a Vice President and the Groundwater Technical Leader for Olsson Associates in Lincoln, Nebraska. Reach her at kgriffin@olssonassociates.com.

Friday, November 11, 2016

by Lee Orton, Nebraska Well Drillers Association and Groundwater Foundation Board Member

The day of a water well contractor varies. But every two years, licensed Nebraska water well contractors are required to take 12 hours
of continuing education. The Nebraska
Well Drillers Association puts on various seminars, workshops and outdoor classes
through the two-year cycle. In 2016, one of the days of a water well contractor was spent at a class held just outside of
Lincoln, Nebraska on land owned by the Lower Platte South Natural Resources
District (LPSNRD), the local water resources management district. The class was done through a joint effort of
the Nebraska Well Drillers Association, LPSNRD, Baroid, Nebraska Heath and Human Services,
drill manufacturer Gefco, and member
drilling contractor Downey Drilling. The day included a well being drilled using an air foam concept. In this drilling process, a foam mix is placed into the well as the drill proceeds down. The foam then brings the cuttings up and out of the well. The foam mix proved to be a method to be used when conditions require something other than a traditional mud drilling medium due to special material geology or other characteristic because of environmental conditions. Unfortunately, the water was not usable due to high salt content. It was planned to be used to water livestock, but the water quality meant the well had to be decommissioned. The day was a learning experience either way.

About the Author

Lee Orton's entire professional career has been established and directed to service for clients involved in water resources professions. His early work with the State of Nebraska related to water resources planning. His clients represent a wide range of groundwater professionals, and working with them for over four decades has demonstrated to him the real importance of public education about groundwater.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

The word for “water” in Mandarin is 水 (pronounced “shway”). It is a relatively easy character to
pronounce and write, earning its place as the third word I’d learned, preceded
by “Hello” and “Thank you”, since stepping into the Beijing airport. Having
just recently graduated with no immediate plan beyond a general desire to
travel and study the environment, I spent my first post-grad year teaching
English at a university in a small city about three hours north of
Beijing. The Chengde municipal area is
home to less than 4 million laid out amidst geography reminiscent of rural
Appalachia and cutting through city proper is 武烈河, or the WuLie (woo lee-ah) River. Along its slow-moving and marshy banks, you
are likely to find small plots of crops, fishermen, and clumps of mucky, shiny
chips wrappers. Odors from rotting fish, spilled fuel, and human waste rise
from the waters to assault your eyes and nose, sticking to your clothing to
remind you of where you’ve been. Sewer
systems lack proper ventilation and treatment. Seepage and sickness are very real threats.

Even more threatening
than the smells and sights of water contamination in China (and, in my
experience, many Asian countries), is the apathetic attitude towards the root
of the problem.Hebei Province, where
Chengde is located, is known for its aggressive restoration of its temperate
forests as the federal government strives to make up for copious air pollution
created by industries in Beijing and, one of the smoggiest cities in the world,
Shijiazhuang.To their credit, it is a
supremely necessary step in their path towards sustainability and their success
is found in the blue skies that, more often than not, peak through the skyscrapers
on cold winter days.However, for the
privilege of clean running water that most Americans enjoy, simply planting
trees is not enough.

It’s a self-destructive
spiral. The water isn’t clean, so large jugs of filtered drinking water are
cheap and readily available. Recycling, at least rurally, is not widely
accessible, much less understood, so all that plastic becomes trash.Waste disposal tends to be seen as someone
else’s job, so littering and the dumping of oils and bio-waste is frequent and
geographically random. Government vehicles keep streets and sidewalks clean by
sweeping and spraying haphazardly disposed items into the sewers.Sewer systems may or may not be treated
before dumping their contents into the river, making the water unclean. Many
rural communities are now unable to use shallower aquifers for their wells and
have turned to digging deeper wells, taxing the capacity of remaining clean
groundwater sources.

This is not to say that
the Chinese don’t care.Many of my
students eagerly shared with me their views on climate change and it seems the
younger generations are taking a more holistic approach towards
conservation.Several international
organizations including The World Association of Soil and Water Conservation
and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies work through offices in
Beijing to conduct research and provide recommendations to the Ministry of
Environmental Protection. National parks and conservation areas proudly boast
glassy rivers and natural hot springs.But until the government makes a coordinated effort to educate poor
rural communities like Chengde on conservation practices like recycling and proper
waste disposal, safe water will remain a commodity that is easier to say than
to find.

__________

Sara Brock is a volunteer intern at The Groundwater Foundation. She earned a BS in Biology and English from Drake University in 2015. Sara has been working on writing stories about program participants and working on the Science Olympiad program. Reach Sara at sbrock@groundwater.org.